When Nothing Else Matters
by FluffyShallEatYou
Summary: The Summers siblings have settled into the Institute comfortably, but none of them realize that change is on the horizon. As the institute takes off, gaining more and more students, old enemies show up, and threaten everything that the school and its inhabitants stand for. Sequel of I See Fire
1. Chapter 1

**So this is the sequel to my short story I See Fire, which can be found on my profile. I suggest reading that first, but i guess its not absolutely necessary. **

**This takes place in November of '64, where i have decided Alex's birthday is. i have no idea if its anywhere near correct, but that's what i chose. So its juts under three years after the last story, this chapter is actually pretty irrelevant to the plot, and kinda fluffy, but hey, Its Alex's pov, so that's fun. Its just to show like how some of the characters have grown in the time between ISF and now. Or, in liz's case, digressed. **

**So yeah enjoy, only this i own is Liz. **

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Alexander Summers stared out a large window at a group of children in their early teens rough-housed on the grass. Sometimes, looking at the students of Xavier Institute, he still couldn't believe his eyes, even after three years. There were children here who looked as different from base-line humans as Hank did, that had the opportunity to laugh and act like teenagers with other kids their age without fear. It was, in a word, amazing.

These kids were different, but they had been spared from growing up as he had, terrified of himself, to the point of purposely getting himself locked in solitary confinement. They would have the chance to be kids, which was, in itself, a miracle. Of course, that these kids existed at all was miraculous, because, who would have thought that the world would fill up with grade A freaks who could do anything from read your mind to blow up a building with a glance.

He sighed.

The world was a pretty fucked up place.

"I know that sigh. Stop thinking things this instant, Alexander Summers." A voice demanded.

He turned to see his sister frowning at him. Her ridiculously long blonde hair was pulled back in a pony-tail, and she was wearing a pair of track shorts and a tank top.

"Today is a happy day," She continued. "We are finally eighteen. It is a celebratory occasion, so stop thinking, and come help me blow things up!"

Alex cracked a grin. It was unusual for Liz to be this happy at any given moment, and he couldn't help but respond to it with a feeling elation. She was right. It was their eighteenth birthday, and he wasn't going to spend it reflecting on how much it could suck to be a mutant.

"Alright, alright. I'm coming." Alex followed his twin sister down the hall. It was hard to believe that he had only known her for three years. Well, six if you counted the three before the plane crash. It felt like they'd never been separated, like he had known her forever, and could trust he with anything. Maybe it was a twin thing. Either way, it made him happy to see her so exited over something as small as a birthday.

Alex knew that his sister hadn't ever had much for birthday celebrations growing up. It ad always just been her and Scott.

He could still remember the expression on hr face on there sixteenth birthday, the first one they had shared since their third, when she had walked into the kitchen to see a cake with 'Happy Birthday, Alex and Liz' scrawled across it in frosting. He had been a little surprised, himself, but more because he hadn't thought anyone had known when his birthday was. Then he had realized that obviously Scott would have known. But the look on her face had been one of absolute childlike joy, and the entire day, she had gone around the mansion with a stupefied smile on her face. That expression hadn't failed to show up on their seventeenth either.

Obviously their eighteenth was even more special to her, if she woke up at eight in the morning and wanted to go to the bunker. When the reached the cement room Alex snorted. Someone had filled it with 'Happy Birthday' balloons. Apparently this excursion was expected.

He was pretty sure this had to have been set up by a student, because Charles wouldn't have been able to pull it off,, it was doubtful that Hank knew the date, and Scott wasn't an extravagant kind of guy. Of course, it could have been set up by Scott's she's-not-my-girlfriend, Jean, and Scott would have helped because it was Jean, and he would jump out of the Blackbird if she told him to.

Liz let out a high pitched eeping noise that could make Sean jealous, and looked around the room with wide eyes. Alex grinned down at her. This whole girly thing was kind of funny to watch, especially since it was so different from her normal demeanor.

She turned to him with a wide smile.

"We get to shoot balloons." Her eyes got a kind of crazy glint to them.

They made a competition of it, separating the room across the middle and making sure the same number of balloons were on each side. The decided whoever popped all of their first-without just shoot an uncontrolled blast at the side of the room- got the first slice of cake. Liz own, but only because she kept shooting at big clumps of them so that one balloon would pop and set off a chain reaction.

Alex wiped the sweat off his forehead and opened the door, holding it for his sister who was laughing hysterically for reasons he didn't know.

The walked past one off the labs, occupied by Hank, and his head poked out f the door.

"What on earth has Liz so jubilant?" He asked in his usual nerdy way.

"Someone filled the bunker with balloons.' He nodded at the blue guy. Hank was a nerd. And a geek. And he did still occasionally call him Bozo, but their was a sort of understanding between them. They were friends. Not as close as Alex and Sean, but they were.

"Oh." Hank got a funny expression on his face. 'I take it that its your birthday?"

Alex nodded.

"Huh. I could have sworn it was still September."

Alex snorted.

"Beast, man, you have got to pay more attention to whats going on outside of this celler."

'Yes. Well. Happy Birthday."

Alex snorted.

"Thanks. I'm going to go catch Liza before she terrifies the newer students."

He head down the hall to find Liz sitting on the bottom step of the stairs. She was tapping her foot at a ridiculous speed.

"There you are! C'mon I want cake!"

Alex shook his head. His sister was something else.

"You, are such a child", he told her, amused.

"Nuh uh. We're eighteen now. Adults."

Her lips were pursed and her eyes wide as if he was a misbehaving three year old that she didn't find amusing.

"Okay, whatever. Lets go eat cake."

"I get the first piece." She reminded him.

"I know."

They reached he kitchen where Scott was leaning against the counter, sunglasses glinting in the light. His arms were crossed, but his lips were pulled into the closest thing to a smile that Alex ever saw on his face.

Liz looked around the room, eyes searching.

She looked up at their older bother.

"cake?"

Scott smile dropped and you could see his eyebrows raise behind the glasses.

"Cake? you expect cake? What do you think it is? You birthday?"

Alex rolled his eyes. Scott could be really annoying, but it was funny watching him try to keep his normal serious expression on his face as Liz stared at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Oh don't be mean to them, Scott" Jean swept into the room, waist length red hair floating behind her. She smiled at Alex and Liz. 'Happy birthday. Don't worry, Scott's just messing with you. Go sit down." She shooed them towards the table.

Jean was a very commandeering person, and the mother hen type, and honestly Alex thought she was perfect for his brother, if only Scott would get his head out of his ass and ask her out.

He sat down next to his sister and watched as Charles wheeled in followed by Sean, a little Asian girl that was friends with Liz, named Jubilation, the poor girl, Hank, who had ventured from his lab, Warren, a kid whose father, a filthy rich owner of the lead technology company, Worthington industries had kicked him out of the house, and had, by default of no other option, not left the mansion for two years.

This was the group that made up their little freaky family. It was extremely dysfunctional, but it was his, and Alex hadn't had much of a family to speak of before meeting Charles, so honestly it was kind of awesome.

Jean walked up the the table and slid across a cake, not very big, because there were only nine of them, shaped in a big 18, topped with that many candles. Alex nudged Liz with his elbow, as their friends began a chorus of "Happy Birthday", reveling in this moment of perfect bliss.


	2. Chapter 2

**So I own nothing except Liz. this chapter is kinda filler, kinda not. Its sets up the next one, and introduces a new character, who is, I might add, comic book canon. So yeah, two early updates, I know, but I have four finished, and I get impatient with the whole updating thing.**

* * *

Lorna Dane stood at the front gate to the mansion. She was in awe of its sheer vastness. In one arm she held the straps of her bookbag. in the other, she held the brochure that her aunt had been mailed from the head instructor of this institute of sorts. Her arms shivered in the chilly air of late evening November. Next to her stood her Aunt Zala, who wasn't really her aunt, but a close friend of her mothers that she had lived with for the past few years.

Until now. Aunt Zala was dumping her off here, at this giant house in the middle of no where. Not that Lorna had left her much of a choice. Whenever she got upset everything metal in the area would start to move, and it had caused more than one accident. When she almost ran a clock through her arithmetic teachers head, Zala had given in to the inevitable. She was not equipped to take care of a child who could do what she could.

Lorna wasn't sure how her aunt had come to know about Charles Xavier and his school for freaks, but it had been deemed the only place she could go.

So here they were, waiting at the immense gates to the home of a man who claimed top be able to read minds.

They opened.

Lorna glanced at her aunt, and the two woman walked up the front door. It was opened before they could even knock. In front of it sat a man in a wheelchair. He was thin, with shaggy brown hair and striking eyes that seemed to penetrate straight in you. Of course, if his claim to be a telepath had any merit, it was quite possible that they could.

"Ms. Savage and Ms. Dane, I presume?" the man asked in an accent that sounded vaguely british to Lorna's untrained ear.

Zala gave a curt nod.

"Yes. And you are the Professor?"

"Please, call me Charles, Ms. Savage."

"If you would follow me to my office, then we can fill out the necessary forms for Lorna's enrollment here."

As Lorna followed the man down the achingly long hallway, she couldn't help but feel an imminent sense of doom.

* * *

Elizabeth Summers smiled with amusement as Alex let out a chorus of belting laughter at something that Scott had just said. the day had slowly pattered off the celebratory mood waning of to this gentle sibling bonding after their friends had left to finish the assignments homework that they had received on friday.

Now it was just her and her two brothers sitting i scotts bedroom, with a case of beer that Charles pretended not to know they had as long as it didn't leave the room, and none of them actually got drunk.

Scott had pulled them out, deeming that on their eighteenth birthday he wanted to give them their first drinks of alcohol. the conversation had been slightly tearful at the same time as it had been happy.

_As soon as the three of them entered Scotts bedroom, Liz's older brother had closed the door. there was something odd in his face as he walked over to the bed. he crouched down next to it and pulled a small black cooler from underneath it. _

_While Scott unzipped the lid, Liz saw the contents on the inside. A single six pack of took two out and placed one in each of the twins hands. _

_"Whats this?" Alex asked with a single eyebrow raised. _

_Scott gave a small smile. _

_"You guys are legal now. I figure, better you drink here with me than out in some bar." _

_Liz snorted. _

_"yes, Scotty, because thats something I'd do. Or let him do." _

_He chuckled lightly. _

_"And... I know that if dad was still alive, he would be doing this. We'd all be sitting in the living room back in Alaska, and this'd be some canadian brand, because he liked it better, and we'd probably be up all night. " his smile faltered a little. "But tomorrow's a monday, and we live in a school, and as you're previous guardian this falls to me. So we're drinking light beer in my bedroom" Scott swallowed hard, and seemed to force a grin. "You guys are adults now, and this is a happy occasion. No more orphanages or foster homes, no fucked up creeps taking advantage of your abilities with no believing you because you're kids they aren't." _

_'yeah." Said Alex in a thoughtful tone. "But you know what the best part is?"_

_'What," Scott asked obviously just humoring him. _

_Honestly, her brother could be such a downer sometimes. _

_"This is the last year we have to deal with school."_

_Liz couldn't help but laugh at that. She knew Alex wasn't serious. He enjoyed school, to a point, and was even considering college, but it was a good mood breaker. And in this case, that was a good thing. _

_Scott grinned, for real that time. _

_"You planning on running away or something?" he asked, humor full in his voice, such a nice replacement for the angst that had filled it moments before. 'Because last I checked, you live in a school." _

And the night had continued in a light manner.

Liz looked at her brothers and smiled, feeling a strange sensation in her stomach. he opened her mouth to speak.

Then she promptly emptied the contents of her stomach all over Scotts floor.

Both of them stared at her in shock.

"You okay?" Alex said, after a few moments.

Liz moved to nod her head, and felt dizziness wash over her.

"No." she moaned out.

Alex snorted. "well aren't you the light weight."

"Shut up." She muttered at him, as violently as she could while feeling as if she had suddenly come down with a horrible stomach bug.;

Scott cracked a grin.

"I'll go get something to clean it up."

Alex blanched.

"And I'll get a glass of water." He stepped out of them room lightning fast.

Asshole.

Scott shook his head.

"He's perfectly composed when a bone is sticking out of his leg, but runs when I mention cleaning puke."

He sighed, and followed Alex out of the room, presumably to find cleaning supplies.

* * *

**Look at me, two chapters up before I said I was going to post the story.**

**so, yeah, Liz and alcohol shouldn't mix. Its kind of pathetic.**

**Zala is kind of comic cannon. She exists. In the comics, at least, however, in those she is a mutant from the savage lands that claims to be Lorna's sister. I wont be including the savage lands in this story line, and I needed an aunt for Lorna Dane, and who better than Zala Dane? She probably wont appear much more in the future though.**

**We'll start getting deeper in the plot pretty soon, and next chapter will introduce a few more characters.**

**Thanks to the follows and favorite, you guys are awesome, I love getting support for my stories, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**

**Until Next time, Check out my Deadpool one shot, Beings of Ruin, or my HoO fanfic, Runaways Place, or of course, if you haven't read the prequel to this, check it out. It explains who Liz is in more detail, and exactly how Liz, Scott, and Alex meet up after First Class, which is, as stated in I See Fire, the only movie that this is canon to.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so that was a bit of a wait, and this chapter is another set up for little subplots, but i have an excuse. Its just not one i'm going to share openly. Its a pretty short one, but like i said, its a set up for the sub-plot. **

**The only thing i own is Liz. **

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Alex made his way down to the main floor, chuckling softly to himself. Honestly, That had been so pathetic that it was actually kind of hilarious.

Well, apparently the three of them drinking together wasn't going to become a traditional thing.

He shook his head and entered the kitchen. He pulled a tall glass from the cupboard and began to fill it with water from the tap. As he filled it, he heard the tell tail friction of wheels hitting the floors that signified Charles' approach. It was accompanied by light footsteps.

Alex turned off the tap. He spun to face the door as it swung open. In came Charles, followed by a woman who looked to be in her late forties,with slightly greying brown hair, and light lines in her face. Next to her walked a girl that was probably a few years younger than himself.

The girl had a shock of green curls that tumbled down her shoulders, and eyes to match. He figured that she must be a new student.

This place was growing fast.

"Alex." Charles greeted, nodding at him.

Alex nodded back.

'Hey, Charles." He tilted his head at the girl. "new student?"

Charles' raised eyebrows told him that the older man new that he had already figured that out, and was prompting an introduction more than anything else.

"Quite right." Charles responded. "Alex this is Lorna Dane and her aunt, Zala Savage. Lorna, Ms. Savage, this is Alexander Summers. Alex was one of my first students, and I like to consider him my greatest success story."

Alex snorted.

"'Convict to High School Graduate' thats one to tell on recruiting trips."

Charles scoffed.

"You never did anything to warrant being put in solitary confinement. We checked before you were let out. And you forget that you do not graduate high school for several months yet.

"whatever. Im sure Scott's done cleaning Liz's puke by now, so im going to bring her the water now."

He left the room.

"what?" he heard Charles ask him as he left. "Alex, please come back here and explain to me why your sister has been vomiting!"

Alex kept walking.

He re-entered Scotts room a few minutes later and saw his sister laying curled in a ball on their brothers bed.

"hey," he said softly, as not to irritate her. Did not need her throwing up again. " Liz, i got you some water. Wanna wash the barf taste out of your mouth?"

Liz moaned at him, and slowly sat up. He took that as a yes, and carried the water over to the bed, and sat down next to her.

She gulped down the drink quickly, and proceeded to use the last mouth full to swish around and spit back out into the cup.

"You took your sweet time." came the sound of Scott's voice along with the opening and closing of the heavy wooden door.

"I ran into Charles. he's giving a tour to some girl. Her guardian actually came with her." Alex had been surprised by that. MOst of the time the kids would show up by themselves with very few possessions. Their parents not having wanted to be bothered with bringing them. Of course this girls guardian was still dropping her off in the middle of no where with a bunch of strangers, but at least she had the decency to come with her.

"'really?" Scott sounded just as surprised as Alex had been. "What does the girl do?" he asked his younger brother with vague curiosity.

'No clue. Her hair's green though."

"How old is she." Asked Liz, her voice kind of scratchy, and quieter than usual.

"I dunno. Not very old. Fourteen, maybe fifteen. Names Lorna" he told her, pleased by her question. It meant that she wasn't likely to puke again.

The aversion to throw-up was something the twins had in common. Both of the hated the sight, smell, and feeling of it. They were quite pathetic when sick with anything involving vomiting. Wouldn't open their mouths for fear of puking.

That she was talking relieved him. He knew that it was improbable that he wound be vomited upon.

"Right, well I'm sure you'll meet her tomorrow at breakfast." Scott said walking over to the pair. "I'm sure her guardian will be leaving soon." He glanced at the clock which read nine oh eight. "Unless they live quite close, it's going to take her a while to get home. Lorna will probably want to get settled in without being bother by the likes of you and Sean."

Liz grinned. "Why, Scott, whatever do you mean." Alex couldn't help but grin as well. Years ago, when the first student had come, Liz and Sean had taken it upon themselves to welcome each new member of Charles Institute for Gifted Youngsters, and had left many of them under the impression that it doubled as a mental Institution.

The two of them got along famously.

While Alex still held the title of best friend, he was beginning to suspect that Sean wanted Liz occupying that of girlfriend.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Sean was his best friend, and with any other girl, he would watch his advances with amusement and occasional sympathy, but Liz was his twin sister, and the idea of her having a boyfriend was quite frankly slightly scandalous in his mind.

He realized that they were eighteen, and most girls there age dated a lot of guys, but as far as he was aware, Liz had never dated anyone, nor shown any desire. Until recently with Sean. What gave him peace of mind was that he knew Sean wouldn't make a move unless he gave the o.k.

Of course that fact that he was almost positive that Liz felt the same way about Sean made him just a little bit guilty about not just coming out and telling Sean to go for it, but he had decided that he wouldn't say anything until one of them did.


End file.
